Page 50 of Mending Our Chance

Horror. There was no other word for the feeling ripping through my body. Taking a full glass of wine that had been intended for one of the boys, I contemplated this new twist in my story. Had I had been sweet-talked by the honeyed words of a viper all these years? My late aunt was clearly the master of poisons, both literally as well as figuratively. I am so fucking tired of being lied to.

Apparently, only a few pieces remained of Gianna’s vast collection of gems. My father came out shaking his head at the loss. Could I trust my father and let him back into my life? Chewing my bottom lip, I decided to go for what I knew I wanted.

Calling on my courage, I took a long swig then blurted out, “I’m sorry, Babbo.”

My words stopped him. His raised palm silenced Alonzo’s diatribe about me drinking his portion of wine. It was clear that my father wanted this uninterrupted moment just as much as I did.

His voice was firm but his posture was cautious. “You know everything now, daughter-mine. What you do going forward is your decision.”

The answer was simple. I was learning to let people in after spending years keeping them out and living in a miserable loneliness. Taking a few steps forward, I closed the distance between us. “All of these revelations do not change the fact that I would still like to have a meal with you later this week.” I nodded to the twins. “And since you are my investors, maybe we should all meet on a regular basis—you know, for rapport building interactions, with wine of course.” I wasn’t offering complete conciliation. That would take time. Rather, I was offering a first step.

“Are you including Marcus in these official, yet casual, meet-ups?” The words were laced with tension. The Signore clearly had thoughts about that situation.

“Yes.” I let out a soft snort. “But, Babbo? Let me handle that mess. You’ve done enough.”

“I did nothing he didn’t offer. I was going to try and approach you through the twins, but the business offer from the poker hustler was too good to resist.” The Signore took a folded paper from his breast pocket. As he carefully undid the tri-folding, he raised his gaze to bore holes into my soul. Two pieces of paper were laid in front of me. “Which brings me to the second reason for seeing you tonight: You need to sign one of these.”

Grabbing blindly for a pen, I raked my eyes over the black letters. Something was placed in my hands, but I dropped it and reached for the documents. “What?!”

“You know, you really should tighten the reins on the Bowers boy.” My father’s tone was dry, but I detected humor underneath. “Your company will never stand a chance if he keeps making stupid mistakes like this. His habits of promising too much to the wrong people or signing things without a single notion…tsk, tsk, daughter-mine.”

I lifted both documents, each bearing Marcus’ signature. One was for the agreement to bring my father on as an investor—this I knew. It was the other that surprised me. “You offered to merge with us?” I was trying to wrap my wine infused brain around what was dancing before my eyes. I could see that Marcus had signed both, which wouldn’t be possible or legal. But whichever I signed, would be the final decision. The ball was in my court. Lifting my eyes to glare at my progenitor, I snapped, “What is this?”

“They are two choices, daughter-mine. I need your signature on one of them and we shall burn the second.”

Both of my brothers were flanking my father. Their stony faces hid their motives. I knew they were checking up on us as investors and that was not a surprise. But merging forces—well that was something I hadn’t considered. “I’m too muddled to sort through this right now,” I said, diverting a decision as I kept searching their faces for dark motives.

It was Alonzo who broke character first and grinned widely at me. Could I work with him? Forever? I flicked my eyes over to Matteo, then my father. “We would need a complete restructure…” my voice tapered off, my mind running too fast with the enormity of it all. I had to defer until I had more time to sort through this. “How long do I have before I need to sign these?”

“Saturday night would be fine.” My father nodded. “Take the work week to speak with Marcus. My advice is do not be harsh with him. He was doing the best he knew how, and my sons have spoken with me about how distraught he has been. So, giving him a reprieve—”

It was my turn to hold up a palm. “I will work it out with him. I know his heart was in the right place. We had started a relationship outside of work and I just need to figure out how we could possibly continue that or whether we can make good business decisions given everything that has happened.”

“Where there’s a will…” Matteo sang out.

“…there’s a way.” Alonzo’s bass joined in.

The twins’ annoying additions made me scowl. So I grabbed for and sipped on the fourth glass of wine, which had been initially claimed by my other brother. Daring him to complain, I quickly drained it. I also folded the contracts and placed them safely in my handbag. Closing the clutch with a brisk finality, I put off any turbulent thoughts until I had safely returned home so that I could enjoy the last few moments of this strange evening with my family.

I watched my brothers bustle around the apartment. They didn’t say a word about their wine, instead shuffling off to clean up the stain on the carpet. So that left my father and I to sit in a ripe silence, no longer tense but strangely at peace.

When it was time to leave my aunt’s apartment, I knew I wasn’t going to slam the door on my family again, but I wasn’t ready to completely fall back into the fold either. I had also decided that I would not slam the door on Marcus. So, we left the horrors of the past in that little apartment, and if they rotted and festered, it would not be in our lives, because we were moving forward. How that would all work out, I wasn’t yet sure, but I knew it was not only possible, but the right thing to do.

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